Down to Business
by Amed
Summary: [Sequel of 'The Heart of the Problem'] 'He loved her, loved her so much it was painful...because she loved someone else' Kai and Hilary had broken up, and the dual-blunette went to Tyson for comfort, but will he be able to remain a good friend and do what's right? Or will he be selfish? And what about Hilary? Is there really no way for her and Kai to get back together? [¿X?]
1. Prologue

Hello everybody! Yes, I know I still have some things I should be writing, but I swear to god I'm trying!

Well, the other day I was really bored and I couldn't sleep, so I started this, the long awaited (lol?) sequel of "The Heart of the Problem"! Yay!

Ok, I let you to read it and don't forget to see the notes at the end!

Enjoy!

Chapter's warnings: Maybe some OOCness, some bad language, sarcasm, Tyson's probably bashing Hilary a little (but they will bash each other a lot in this fic) and the product of insomnia is never something you should take seriously (joking! xD it's not that bad...I think).

Disclaimer: Beyblade does not belong to me, or there wouldn't be any 'second generation' crap! -no offense to those who like that series-

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Prologue:

How long has it been since it happened? Six years? Maybe seven?

Perhaps even longer than that, he's not really sure.

He won't go as far as to say that it was a 'at a first glance' thing, no, that's ridiculous. But it's pretty damn close to that, if you take into consideration all the time that passed since then and now.

It was hard to tell, really…it's just…he wasted so much time not realizing it happened, he doesn't even know _when _it happened…it just did.

He, Kinomiya Tyson, was in love with Hiwatari Kai.

Madly, extremely, so, so much painfully in love with her it was unbelievable.

And it…well it sucks, to be honest. With a huge capital 'S', and 'U'…and add the other letter now that we're at it.

Why does it suck, you ask? Because he's an idiot, that's why!

Tyson has grown up a lot since his wild, crazy teenage days, and he has matured a lot –yeah, ha-ha, laugh! He doesn't care-; and one part of growing up and maturing was to look back at yourself and admit how much dumb, stupid, oblivious and idiotic to the point of 'I should go back in time and punch myself in the face' you were.

And he admitted that, he did, he really did. And it was all so…so…frustrating!

Yes, that was the word! Frustrating!

He was so damn frustrated at his teenage-self! –and 'not-so-teenage'-self too.

I mean, looking back now at all the interactions he had with his former rival across the year, his feelings were so damn OBVIOUS they were practically slapping him in the face, and no~! He could not tell them apart from simple friendship/brotherhood.

He could sort of forgive himself for not realizing that while he still thought Kai was a _boy_, because…you know…gay-stuff and let's not go into that!

But heck, even then he knew that what he felt for the dual-blunette was deeper than what he felt for any of his friend –_any_ of them.

He felt calm, comfortable, and secure with her. He felt like they understood each other and could be themselves freely, and most of all, he had fun with Kai. And believe me, Kai was no heart-of-the-party, not now, not then, not ever!

So, you see where this is going? Yeah, yeah, he knows that it's perfectly feasible to feel like that for a friend, but…you don't _stalk_ your friends.

No! He totally did NOT stalk Kai. All he did was done inside the boundaries of normal human behavior. 'Cuz, you know, friends know where their friends live, and while Kai knew where Tyson lived –had stayed there quite a few times-, it's didn't go the other way around.

And that took him to find out all about the orphanage and Dranzer's wielder's life after Voltaire.

Which hasn't been a pretty business and has made him feel like and awful person and a terrible friend, especially when Kai's answer to the question 'Why haven't you said anything?' was 'What did you think had happened?', 'cuz it was true, he haven't thought.

For him, Voltaire's business had ended that day after his first World Championship, and he never gave much thought about it ever since. Nobody did; at least, nobody that matter.

So yeah, he felt like shit for doing that, and to remediate his huge mistake, he had the very clever idea to open his big mouth and say 'Come live with me!'

Now, asking Kai to move in with him was not a bad idea _per se_, and if he had to do it again he would –'cuz seriously, that orphanage…no-, but what made him so mad at himself that he wanted to choke himself to death with an apple –yes, an apple- was his inhuman ability to ignore all the signs that told him that he was in love with his friend.

Because, one of the more important things that had happened since he said those four words, was Kai telling him that she was a _girl_.

And…man, that was so…ridiculous! Just thinking about it made him laugh out loud in shame…boy, they had been so awkward! It was hysterical, really, but also one of those things they were not going to tell anyone. Ever. Mainly because it would look bad on him.

You see, when the dual-blunette decided to tell him the true, she took him to her bedroom and sat him down on the floor, then she sat in front of him, breathed deeply and blurted out the truth without hesitation and with her 'no-nonsense' face –which is basically her normal face, just more…intense-.

Tyson, being a man of action that needed to check things for himself, did the only thing that he had available at that moment to prove the other's statement, so he recurred to 'touching'.

And no, he did _not_ cup her breast, geez…there was no breast to cup anyway! She was still on full disguise, for god's sake, have a little respect people! ...He didn't cup her boobs, no, he grabbed her _crotch_.

That's the only actual way to know, people! You can get boob implants, or even have man boobs, but what's below the waist never lies! And there was definitely nothing there, which made the other's previous statement true.

Thankfully –in a way-, he did not spend much time freaking out about the whole 'Oh my god! My best friend is a girl!' thing, because said friend broke his nose.

Like, literally, she broke his nose. They had to go to the hospital and everything. Good thing was that he was too busy trying to get blood stains out of his yellow t-shirt to worry about all the implications Kai being a girl had.

So yay! He had more than one girl that was his friend and the only thing that changed was having to buy the occasional feminine product now and then, and enduring the utter embarrassment that brought –because the dual-blunette being the oh, so good friend she was, made him do those stuff.

Ok, let's not lie, things did change. The problem was him not realizing the way in which they changed, at least not consciously.

Because, boy…his body…it sure noticed the difference.

Now, get your minds out of the gutter, you perverts, it's not like that! Not entirely like that, to be honest.

You see, when you're in love, you want to be close to that person, to have some sort of physical contact with them, regardless of how minimal. And the way his body managed to accomplish that while by-passing his mind's obliviousness, was to tackle Kai to the floor, the couch, the bed or any other available surface and wrestle with her.

Which was a fancy way to say 'getting beat up by her'; but through sheer force of repetition, insistence, and what he now is sure were great amounts of masochism, the dual-blunette eventually got used to it.

In fact, they both got used to each other in time and things that at first were annoying –like Tyson's lack of respect for personal space and Kai's tidiness that borderline an OCD- became normal, and even endearing to some extent.

So the frustrating part intensified since then, because once thing became routine, he could no longer blame his…ehem, 'physical excitement' to exercise –it happens to all professional athletes! Ask anyone!-

The need to be close to her, to touch her, to feel her warm body pressed against his was…unbearable. He wanted her. He needed her. And yet his mind kept screaming in denial that it was totally innocent and not at all romantic.

It literally took Kai moving out and not being there 24/7 for him to realize his feelings.

And man, how cliché is that? It was pathetic, it was seriously pathetic, and it was so, so sadly the truth.

The first night after the dual-blunette was gone, he had sat down on the couch, and he had never felt more alone in his life like at that moment.

His house has never been so big, and empty and quiet. It was terrifying to finally notice how much importance a single person had on his life.

He missed her. He missed the sound of her voice, the way she smelled, that lazy smile she greeted him with on the mornings –a small, sleepy curl of the lips-, the special way she arranged the silverware –the napkin always to the left of the plate and the silverware on top of it-, and the soft 'hum' sound she made the moment before falling asleep.

He loved her…and it suck, and all for one big reason.

Hilary.

And yes, he knows it sound bad, but he had thought about it over and over and there was no way to make it not sound bad, so what are you gonna do?

Hilary was the only thing that came between him and the love of his life, and it was totally unfair!

I mean, he saw Kai first, for god's sake! He introduced them! If it weren't for him they wouldn't even know each other! That hussy brunette came out of nowhere and stole away the price, without give anyone else a chance!

And that's jealousy talking people! Jealousy is ugly, deal with it!

Ehm…he kind of got carried on back there, let's get back to what's important.

To sum up, he loved Kai, Kai loved someone else, and it was killing him inside. And one of the secondary effects of the whole 'dying inside' thing was ignoring other important aspects of his life, mainly the girl he was dating at that time.

Poor girl, she didn't deserve how things ended up between them. He wishes her the best.

So an eight month relationships ended up awfully and he felt like a douchebag, and everything was crap and the only person that actually made him happy was being happy with someone else.

So yeah, life was wonderful!

Well, not everything was so bad. Things started to look better once Kai invited him over to her apartment to watch some movies, in her awkward attempt to cheer him up.

But once he had a taste of what it used to be like being with her, he wanted more. And regardless of what the dual-blunette thought about herself, there was one very easy was to manipulate her, only using one single thing.

Guilt.

Yeah, he guilt-trip her into spending more time with him. He's not too proud about it, honestly, but he was in a very delicate emotional state of mind, so stop judging him!

He was a bad friend, he truly was. He only thought about himself and what he wanted, it never crossed his mind what an imposition he was giving his friend nor the problems it caused in her relationship with her girlfriend.

Said girlfriend had to open his eyes for him to realize what he was doing to his loved one.

Now don't get him wrong, he's not mad at Hilary, she was in all her right to do what she did. He was actually thankfully.

She made him realize how pathetic he was being, mourning over a person who loved someone else.

He wanted to be a better friend for Kai, and forget all about her and move on, for his own sake.

So, as a good friend, he stopped interfering so much with Kai's life.

As a good friend, he listened when she talked about marriage.

As a good friend, he went with her to go ring-shopping.

And as someone who has been in love for over a decade, he wanted one taste, one simple, little kiss and he'll move one.

It was just a very convenient coincidence that Christmas just happened to be around the corner, and even better yet all their friends would be on Japan for the occasion.

Tyson missed his friends. People leaving and losing touch was something he has never been able to handle very well, he right out didn't liked it.

So this would be like killing two birds with one rock. He'll get to see Rei, Max and everyone and he'll finally put an end to his obsession over Kai.

So he prepared everything. Got all he needed, cleaned up the whole house and made every call that needed to be done.

When the day finally arrived, he was pretty nervous, to tell the truth. So he drank himself to a stupor to get the courage to steal a kiss from his best friend.

And then…then…it…all became blurry. He sort of knows he got that kiss he wanted, and maybe a little bit more, and the next thing he knew was being woken up by a glass of water to the face –courtesy of Daichi- because he passed out on the back yard.

But it didn't mattered what had happened the night before; he got up that 25th feeling relieved, like a weight had been lift off of his shoulders.

For now on, Kai would be happy with someone else and he eventually will find someone to be happy with too.

But first thing first, he needs to clean up the house. And he was about to do that when someone knocked on the door.

He opened the door and came face to face with the ultimate image of sadness, incarnated in the woman that, regardless of how many conviction he could master, he still loved with all his heart.

Kai smiled that smile that told him that whatever it was that had brought her here this early in the morning was much, much worse than he imagined.

"Hilary broke up with me"

Oh…crap.

To be continued.

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Well, this is just the prologue, but I guess you can tell how the story's gonna go from here.

This second arc it's gonna focus more on Tyson, and his and Kai's relationship. But don't worry, there would be Hilary, lot's of her, and other people too!

But I'm NOT going to tell you how this is gonna end, because, what's the fun in that?

I think Kai's gonna be more "IC" here than in the other fic, as you get to see how she's in other situations that are less 'romantic'. We would also see a little bit more about her past and stuff, but you're just gonna have to wait for it, ok? n.n

Now, I can't promise when I'm going to update as I did before. As I said, I was not planning to do this now, so this is just out of the oven and I'm going for a few days to take care of my grandaunt who's gonna have a surgery, so I don't know when will I be able to keep writing.

Anyway, I hope you have liked this prologue! I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, Hilary-fans! I really want her and Tyson to have a bad relationship and, this was kind of necessary.

Have a nice day and c'ya next time!

Take care!...Oh, and do leave a review with your thoughts and ideas for this fic, I'll really appreciate it! n.n


	2. Chapter I: Shock

Good day everyone! How have you been?

Well, I been burning, 'cuz it's so hot in here I can't even think -.-

I apologize for how long this took to make, I really would like to be able to assure you of when will I next update this, but unfortunately, I can't. Writer's block and Laziness-attack are not helping xD

Well, I won't entertain you anymore, enjoy!

Chapter's Warning: Angst (or is it drama?), some OOC, you probably won't like how characters react here, it confuses more than what it explains, and I'm so tired I can't even...

Disclaimer: Beyblade doesn't...ugh...to hot to care...

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Chapter I: Shock

He had to be honest with himself; he had no clue what to do now. He did not expect this to happen. It never crossed his mind…not even once.

Ok, that was a lie. He had dream about it several times.

Of course, in his dreams, it was a beautiful day outside and Kai was smiling when she told him, and then she would throw herself at his arms and they will have hot, passionate sex in the middle of…wherever it was they were in the dream, he wasn't picky.

But _this_…

What should he do? What must he do? What should he say? He was never good at break ups!

Ok, ok, calm down! Let's start with the little things. It's freezing outside, let her in.

"Oh, good…" Tyson took one step forward and touched Kai's check, feeling how cold she was "Come in, you're freezing"

The dual-blunette smiled sadly in form of gratitude and he ushered her inside, taking her bag for her.

The girl looked…lost, for lack of a better word. She was standing there, hugging herself and looking down at the floor, surely about to start crying.

But Tyson knew Kai, and that was surely not going to happen any time soon.

"Here, sit down" he grabbed her arm and guided her to the couch "God, you're shaking. What are you wearing under that?" he asked once she sat down, going to get one of the extra coverts from the closet.

"Just a…shirt" the girl's voice was barely over a whisper and she wasn't really moving.

Tyson swallowed hard, this was…awful didn't quite make it justice. And he didn't know what to do to make it better.

"Here" he said draping the cover over Kai's shoulder and walking around the couch to kneel before her.

The dual-blunette had an empty look on her eyes, gazing into infinity but not really looking at anything; and it broke the blunet's heart to see her like this.

"Hey…" he called her, to no available "Hey!" he called her again and took both her hand in his, finally getting her attention "Listen to me. It's gonna be ok"

Maybe it was a little too optimistic to say that now, he didn't even know what happened, but what else was he going to say?

"I promise it'll be ok" Kai looked at him with disbelief all over her face, and he didn't like that "I promise. I'll get you some tea, you'll warm up and…" he sighed, ignoring the pain that what he was about to say caused "We'll fix this up, I swear"

If he had to be honest with himself, he didn't really want to fix the relationship between Kai and Hilary. But above all else, he didn't wanted Kai to be like this ever again.

He wanted her to be happy, and if being with Hilary made her happy, then so be it.

Kai smiled softly. It was still a sad smile, but a different kind of sadness. A hopeful one. And she held his hands a little tighter.

"Thank you"

/-/-/-/-/-/

"Here you go" he said passing a cup of tea to her friend, who eagerly took a long sip from it as soon as it was in her hands.

"Thanks" Kai said once she dank half the content of the cup, holding it tightly between her hands to heat them up.

Tyson sat beside her on the couch, wanting to hug her and pull her close to him, but not sure if he should.

The ex-blader had barely said a word since she came in, and she had only moved enough so the cover was covering all her body.

She was in a catatonic state, apparently. Not thinking, not feeling, just…existing.

It was not good, and he wanted her to react, however badly.

"Hey…" he called, and the other sat a little straighter on her spot as a sign that she was listening "About what you said" he swallowed, this was a delicate question, but it needed to be asked; he needed to know "What happened?"

At his question, Kai straightened more on her spot, put the cup down on the coffee-table, and looked at the roof with astonishment.

"I don't…know" she said, and he could tell it was true "She just…" she shook her head, not able to put into words something she didn't even understand.

She was re-living what had happened over and over in her mind and she still could not make any sense of it.

She was not a cheater. She had never cheated. She wasn't even interested in other people, for god's sake!

What would make Hilary think that she…?

"I don't get it" the girl sighed dejectedly and covered her face with one of her hands, getting in a semi-fetal position.

Tyson wanted to say something to make her feel better, but admittedly he didn't know _what_ to say.

Over the years they've known each other, Kai have never had a break up. Fights? Yes, but a break up? Normally she was the one to console him after a break up, regardless of how awkward her attempts at doing so were.

He carefully put a hand on her back, trying to easy her erratic breathing.

"God, this is stupid" the dual-blunette said while straightening and forcing her breathing to normalize.

"Oh, come on, it's not" the ex-world champion said in a reassuring way, hopping things won't go to _that_ place "There's nothing wrong with crying after what happened"

The minute those words left his mouth Kai turned to look at him with angry, watery red eyes –that were redder than normal-, and he knew they were already on _that_ place.

"I am NOT crying" of course she wasn't. She never was. What was he thinking?

That's angry sarcasm, by the way.

He did not liked the way his friend had for 'dealing' with sadness, he never had. He knew it had to do with the way she was raised, but after all this time he had hoped she had given up on that whole 'crying is a weakness' thing.

"Kai" he said with a serious tone, ready to argue about repressed feelings and how stupid that was.

"Aren't you going to clean up in here?" but before he could say anything else, the dual-blunette abruptly changed the subject.

Tyson looked at her, stunned by the interruption and saw the raw need for distraction in her eyes. She wasn't ready to talk about it, not yet, and the least he could do for her was allowing her some time to process what had happened.

"I was about to start" if he sighed in frustration, she didn't mentioned it "but then you came in"

Kai breathed and nodded in understanding, not wanting to think about this morning and what had brought her here.

She felt the knock on her throat tightening and her breathing accelerating once more, clear signs of impending crying; so she slapped herself lightly on the cheek to keep the tear at bay.

Tyson hated when she did that. Those stupid ways she had to keep all inside. She had has them for as long as he had known her, never quite able to let them go.

"You still keep everything in the same place?" Kai asked, determinate to distract herself and not think about things that were illogical, made no sense and were surely just a cruel joke.

The blunet frowned sadly, looking at the wetness in her eyes and the soft-red print of her own hand in her cheek, and nodded.

He didn't liked what his red-eyed friend was doing, but he wasn't about to force her to cry when she obviously didn't wanted to.

Not now at least…

/-/-/-/-/-/-/

What. A. Day!

It was freaking cold outside. It snowed a couple of times. It took tame _hours_ to clean up the whole mess. The snow had made it impossible for them to leave the house to see their friends off the airport. There was not enough alcohol to cheer things up and…oh! He almost forgot! His best friend was dying inside and fiercely pretending not to.

All in all, a great day…

…That was sarcasm if you didn't get it by now.

Tyson looked up at the roof and sighed tiredly. He couldn't sleep, not one bit.

This whole business with Kai was messing up with his head, and he had a nagging feeling at the back of his mind that he was somehow responsible for all of it.

Kai hadn't said a word on the subject once they started cleaning –haven't said much at all for that matter-, so he didn't really knew why has Hilary broken up with her; but he felt guilty nonetheless.

Ugh…what had happened the other night? What exactly did he do?

For the life of him, he could not remember clearly. He had vague images of kissing Kai, but mostly just sensations and feelings, nothing really certain.

Maybe Hilary saw them and that's why she decided to end it with the dual-blunette?

That could be, but…he kind of imagined the brunette more of the likes of 'breaking his nose for kissing her girl' than one to just 'give up'.

One of the good things she had was that she never gave up without a fight, and this looked like a complete surrender.

So, he either wasn't seeing things as they were, or there was more to this than whatever it is he and Kai did the other night.

He sighed again in defeat. There was no point in pondering about this, not when the dual-blunette was denying being affected by it in anyway.

He needed to make Kai talk, to face her feeling, to _really_ face them, and vent out. What she was doing did her no good, and she should know that by now…

"Ty?" a hesitant call and the sound of his bedroom's door being open ajar distracted him from his thought, and twisting to face said door he was met with his unexpected –jet not unwelcome- houseguest.

Kai was wearing one of his old t-shirt –'cuz she didn't have any pajamas in the suitcase she brought- and she pulled at it a little bit in a useless attempt to cover more of herself –he was still able to see her legs in all their glory-, looking uncertain about something.

"Something's wrong?" he asked worried, in all the time they have lived together, this was the first time Kai has ever came to his room by her own initiative –well, except for that one time when he fell off the bed and she came to check on him.

"No, nothing. It's just…" Kai sighed and looked down at the floor, and Tyson could have swear she was blushing "I guess I kind of got used to sleeping besides someone"

Oh…

So, comfort, that's what she wanted. No words, no promises, just someone to hold her when the pain was at it's strongest.

Yet she was too much proud, too much stubborn, too much 'Kai', to ask directly for it.

Tyson blinked in confusion. It's not like they have never share the same bed before –once she had gotten tired of kicking him out of her bed, he used to go sleep with her at least twice a week, till she got into a relationship-, and he definitely wanted to make her feel better, it's just…

This was the same woman he had, no less than 24 hours ago, been determinate about forgetting. And here she was, half naked on his threshold, begging him to let her in and laid beside him on the bed.

If he didn't know any better, he'll say that this was a gift from the cosmos…

The blunet sighed and moved to one side of the bed, and Kai quickly got in beside him.

"Thank you" she said after a while once they settled in beside each other "For letting me stay…for this"

"It's nothing" he shook his head, there was really no way he could say 'no' to this woman.

Kai looked at him conflicted. She wanted to say something, he knew, he could see it in her eyes, but she was hesitant, not ready to do it.

Maybe not even ready to face the reality she would encounter in the morning once she wake up and realize that the day before have, in fact, happened and it wasn't just some bad dream.

She contented herself with just holding his hand for a while, holding on to it for dear life.

"You're a good friend" she said and, with a final squeeze, she let go of his hand and turned around to go to sleep.

Tyson waited for a while till he heard it, that soft 'hmm' that signaled that she was already in Morpheus's hands, and sighed dejectedly.

With a freedom he wasn't sure he had, he hugged the dual-blunette from behind, pressing their bodies together, and buried his face on her hair, breathing in the sweet essence that was only Kai's.

No, he wasn't a good friend. He didn't think he was. Not when this, this moment right here, right now, was making him so immensely happy.

To be continued…

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Well, what you think? Is it too much OOC or is, in fact, more IC than before?

Next chap, hopefully, will have Hil on it, so it's gonna have more drama than this one (unless my plans changes).

So you just wait for it! Drop a review and tell me what you think so far!

Have a nice day and c'ya latter!


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